


Help

by Pillow_Bee



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: AU, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 10:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3407762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pillow_Bee/pseuds/Pillow_Bee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m happy to help you with anything, as long as it’s not the bloody papier-mâché again.”</p><p>Q laughs at this, the memory of Bond and the cat and their living room carpet covered in papier-mâché resurfacing within his mind.</p><p>(In which Q is an art professor, and he needs Bond’s help for his next project.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Help

Q pokes his head into Bond’s study at approximately 7:30 PM.

“James?”

“Hmm?”

Deep inside, Q feels a pang of guilt for disturbing Bond. He usually reads in his study after dinner, and that is exactly what the older man is doing at the moment. He is relaxed, lying on the sofa tucked at the corner of the study, his reading glasses perched on his nose.

It is a rather endearing picture, but Q has to ask.

“Are you busy tonight?”

This gets Bond’s attention immediately. He places the book, face-down, on his chest before giving Q his full attention. The corner of Bond’s lips curls into a small smile. “Well, that depends.”

Q rolls his eyes, leaning against the doorway and crossing his arms, but he, too, is smiling.

“What’s up?” Bond asks.

“I may need your help with something.”

Bond is sitting up now, and he is already putting the book and his reading glasses aside. “You _do_ , do you now?”

“Well, yes, I wouldn’t be asking otherwise, love.” Bond is silent for a moment or two, and Q starts to think that perhaps Bond does have other plans tonight. “It’s fine if you’re not free,” he says gently.

“No, I am,” Bond replies. “I’m happy to help you with anything, as long as it’s not the bloody papier-mâché again.”

Q laughs at this, the memory of Bond and the cat and their living room carpet covered in papier-mâché resurfacing within his mind. Sometimes Q simply cannot believe how lucky he is to have Bond in his life. The man practically knows next to nothing about art, but he indulges and helps Q with his projects, anyway.

“I am terribly sorry for that, you know,” he says, and he means it, and this might just be the hundredth time he is apologising for it. It took them quite a while to clean up all the traces of papier-mâché, and the cat definitely did not help. “But no, it’s not papier-mâché this time around.”

“Well, thank God,” Bond says, his blue eyes twinkling.

“What I do need, though, is your gorgeous face.”

Bond smirks. “My gorgeous face?”

“Your _utterly_ gorgeous face,” Q confirms.

The smirk widens. “Should I be concerned? Am I posing for a nude portrait?”

“I said your _face_ , James, not your body,” Q says, shaking his head as he stalks away from the study. He makes his way towards his art studio and Bond follows.

“So my body is gorgeous too?”

“Unbelievable,” Q mutters under his breath, but he is grinning.

~*~

There is something magical about Q when he is dedicated to an art project.

Bond has seen it before – is seeing it _now_ – and it is amazing how he can never get tired of it. How can he? Q is _beautiful_. The look of utter concentration on Q’s face whenever he is sculpting, the confident strokes of his hand when he is painting, the sharp yet mesmerising glances he takes whenever he is sketching something or someone – everything he does is impossibly beautiful, and Bond is forever thankful to be the man lucky enough to be able to call Q his.

“Where do you want me?” Bond asks. He has just returned from the kitchen, bearing a cup of tea for Q and a cup of coffee for himself. Q is still setting up the place, but is nearly done.

“Right here on the table,” Q says, gesturing at the long table that usually resides against the far wall of Q’s studio. It has now been dragged to the centre of the room, and is free from any art supplies and student projects. One end has been covered with a towel or two, and while Bond is glad that Q isn’t working with papier-mâché, he still suspects that this next project could turn out just as messy. “I want you to lie down.” Bond arches his eyebrows, but goes to the table nonetheless.

“Should I take my clothes off?” he jokes. Q hits him on the shoulder with the stack of papers that he is moving to the shelf. “Come on, you love it.”

“I might, but I don’t think I’m ready to share your naked form with my students just yet,” Q replies as Bond climbs onto the table and lies down. Once he is settled comfortably, Q starts to set up the camera and the tripod on the table in a way that would allow the camera to capture Bond’s upper half of the body from above. “Are you comfortable?”

Bond reaches out and touches Q’s jaw, earning a smile from the younger man. “Just be gentle with me.”

Q rolls his eyes before dramatically pulling out a long sheet of cling film from its box. “I will suffocate you on camera if you don’t cease your innuendos, Mr. Bond.”

“Am I allowed to talk at all throughout your tutorial?” Bond asks, and he is genuinely curious.

“You may, but we’ll see. I might just do a voice-over if your commentaries become too annoying or too inappropriate,” Q hums, now reaching for various items from the other table and setting them next to Bond’s head. “Ready?” he asks, once everything is set.

“As I’ll ever be.”

~*~

“Hello everyone,” Q starts out, and he sees Bond shake his head at this, but ignores it. The camera is rolling and Q is suddenly feeling slightly nervous, but he reminds himself that he could always go with the voice-over option if his commentaries turn out to be terrible. He is standing at the end of the table where Bond’s head is, and the camera is only going to capture his hands and nothing else. “So, as promised, this is the, ah, shall we say, small tutorial on the masquerade mask assignment that I’ve given you yesterday.”

Bond glances up and smiles at him, so Q gently cradles his face and says, “And here with me now is my lovely husband, who’s agreed to become my face model.”

Bond greets Q’s invisible viewers by wriggling his eyebrows at the camera.

“So, umm, I should point out that I’ve listed all the materials needed for this assignment in the description box below, but I’ll just go ahead and list them out anyway.”

Q lists out the tools and materials for the masquerade mask and Bond politely listens, making interested noises whenever Q explains something about alternative materials that could still do the trick, or where to actually purchase the materials and tools.

“Right, so, I’m just going to start off by mapping off the face, by showing you where exactly the mask is going to go,” Q explains, once he is done ranting about the materials. “The mask is going to start here,” he says, tracing a finger along Bond’s widow’s peak, “all the way down to here only —” Q has reached Bond’s cheekbones and is now tracing his finger towards the nose, “—since it’s a half mask,” he finishes.

Bond has his eyes closed throughout Q’s little explanation, completely relaxed with his feet crossed at the ankles, and Q thinks that there is something a little too intimate about him tracing his fingers all over his husband’s face on camera, but then again, this is for an assignment and nothing else, so he presses on.

“I’ve decided that it’s going to be a half mask, so I’m not going to cover the mouth or the nostrils. But if you want to make a full mask, then by all means, you can. There aren’t any limitations to creativity, so just do whatever you want to do,” Q says, and Bond nods as if to say, “He’s right, you know.”

(Or he might just be teasing Q for _actually_ delivering the typical ‘art teacher speech’ on how limitless creativity really is, so Q pats Bond on the shoulder – a quiet way of saying, “All right, you’re having fun, aren’t you?” – and this earns him a cheeky grin from the other man.)

“Now we’re going to start with the _fun part_ ,” Q says, taking the cling film and showing it to the camera. “I’m just going to cover this lovely face with some cling film. Just the part where the plaster paper is going to go – so it’s the forehead and the eyes and the nose, maybe cover the nostrils as well, just in case. We don’t want the skin to break out with anything nasty when we place the plaster paper on – are you allergic to plaster paper, James?”

“I haven’t actually smothered that stuff on my face before, to be quite honest, so I have no idea,” comes the cheeky reply. Q huffs at this, and thinks that maybe the voice-over option isn’t at all necessary.

He can already tell that his students are going to absolutely love Bond.

“Right, better safe than sorry, eh?” Q says as he places one layer of cling film carefully over Bond’s forehead and eyes.

“Oh, absolutely,” Bond says, his face dead serious. 

Yep. The kids are _definitely_ going to love Bond.

~*~

Q wastes no time in editing the masquerade mask tutorial, and works tirelessly on decorating the mask over the weekend. Bond knows better than to disturb Q whenever he is working on an art project, so he basically leaves him to it. He only has to step in and drag a very exhausted Q away to bed once, and thankfully Q goes willingly without much fight.

Bond nearly forgets about the video once the week starts, and it is on a Tuesday evening that he finally watches it.

“Unbelievable,” Q says, and this is how Bond gets around to watching Q’s video. Bond pokes his head into Q’s art studio to find his husband hunched over his laptop.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“ _You’re_ what’s wrong,” Q grumbles, but there isn’t enough fire behind his words. Bond steps into the studio and is next to Q in a matter of seconds.

“Is it the video?” he asks.

“Yes.”

Bond peers at the screen, and is rather surprised to see the number of views that the video has garnered in such a short period of time. “Well, would you look at that. I take it your students find the video helpful?”

“Hardly,” Q says, and he is still grumbling and Bond doesn’t understand it, until Q says, “I’m not sure if they’re watching the video for the mask or if they’re watching it because of you.”

“Me?” Bond repeats.

“Yes, James, _you_. Apparently you’re, ah, what was it again? _‘Oh-em-gee, so gorgeous!’_ I think was the term.”

“Q, what on earth are you talking about?” Bond asks, laughing, because Q’s ears are actually getting red and Bond finds it endearing.

“Oh, here! Read it yourself!”

So Bond does:

> **diana143** 1 day ago  
>  your husbands eyes defy science. what is this sorcery???
> 
> **Jenna Wilson** 2 days ago  
>  Lovely tutorial! Really helpful! And oh, your husband is lovely!
> 
> **Hot Nerd** 2 days ago  
>  I’m not sure if I should be focusing on your words or on your husband’s eyes xD;  
>  Nice tutorial, by the way. Thank you!
> 
> **Kimberly Duke** 2 days ago  
>  why are the comments all about the dude’s husband’s eyes? come on guys, he is married for goodness sake  >:|  
> 
> 
> **The First Lady** 2 days ago  
>  in my opinion: your husband is reeeeeeeeeeaaally handsome… say hi for me
> 
> **THE END ALWAYS THE END** via Google+ 2 days ago  
>  omg so gorgeous

Bond is half amused and half flattered. He scrolls down and there is a **Show more** button, and when he clicks it, there is indeed _more_ comments. Most of them aren’t about Q’s masquerade mask at all.

Q is quietly seething and is trying to hide it by gulping down his tea at an unusual speed. He is up and muttering about getting more tea a moment later, and Bond laughs again as he takes one of Q’s slim wrists before he could escape.

“Are you actually jealous?” he asks, pulling Q close. He takes the empty Scrabble mug and puts it aside. “They’re just YouTube comments, Q.”

“I know. And I am not _jealous_ ,” Q pouts – honest to God _pouts_ – and Bond laughs again. “Stop laughing, this isn’t funny, James!”

“Of course it is, you’re pouting.”

Q makes an exasperated sound and tries to wriggle out of Bond’s hold, only to be pulled in closer. “It’s all your fault, nonetheless.” Bond does not reply, only hums at Q’s accusation, and kisses Q’s forehead instead. Q relaxes into the embrace, sighing. “I made that video so my students can actually _learn_ something. Not for complete strangers to gawk at you and hit on you in the comments section.”

“I know darling,” Bond says. “You worked so hard on the mask and the video.”

“I know!”

“Hush now. I think it’s fantastic.” And he means it. He wasn’t allowed to see the mask while Q was still working on it, but Bond remembers being at a loss of words when Q finally did show him the final product.

_(“Well, what do you think?”_

_The mask is silver and gold with a tinge of blue here and there, with extremely intricate and detailed lines and curves decorating its surface, and Q is biting his lips and his chin is resting on top of his laced fingers as he waits for Bond to critique his newest masterpiece._

_The only problem is that Bond can never find it in himself to critique any of Q’s artworks – because to him, everything Q has ever worked on is gorgeous, even if the younger man does not believe it._

_So Bond tells him again:_

_“It’s gorgeous, Q.”_

_And the blush that creeps up to Q’s cheeks and ears is even more so.)_

“Come on,” Bond says, releasing Q from his embrace and peering into those grey-green eyes. “Let’s get you more tea.”

“Yes. More tea is good,” Q groans, grabbing his mug and leading the way out of the art studio. “ _Then_ I can start flagging down comments and replying to the ones my students made.”

Bond is quiet as he follows Q into the kitchen, but he has to ask: “Did, err, any of your students hit on me, then?”

The glare he gets borders on _terrifying_ , so Bond lifts his hands in surrender. 

“Only joking, Q,” he says, grinning.

~*~

Q ends up flagging down half of the comments and leaving snarky replies on the other half.

Bond is rather terrified of his husband’s quiet wrath, to be honest, but Q does seem happier afterwards, so Bond isn’t going to complain.

~*~

“Wonder what’d happen if I’d actually taken my clothes off for your video.”

It is 2:13 AM and they are both in bed. After lots of tea and a very thorough shagging, Q has more or less managed to forget about the stupid video and the stupid comments.

“…Then it’d be flagged as inappropriate,” Q mumbles. His cheek is resting against Bond’s bare chest, and sleep is slowly starting to claim him.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yes. _You’re_ inappropriate.”

Bond simply chuckles at this. “You love me all the same.”

Q groans. “Yes. I do. God help me.”

“Good night, Q.”

“Night. Love you.”

Q can feel Bond’s smile against his temple. “Love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo this just happened!
> 
> The fic is inspired by several things, namely [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx2iB2ciMcc) (skip to 1:12 where he introduces his wife! So cuuute!) and that one particular line in one of Ben Whishaw’s films that goes something like, “you love this dick.” Haha… xD (It sounds dirtier out of context omg.)
> 
> Q is basically making a masquerade mask, and I am not an art teacher or even an art student, so I am sorry for any inaccuracies or whatever... I just thought the video is terribly sweet, so yeah~
> 
> And the comment about Bond’s eyes defying science is taken from [here](http://hellogiggles.com/crush-of-the-week-daniel-craig). I just laughed out loud when I read it, kekeke~ 
> 
> (And yes, I actually googled ‘daniel craig blue eyes’ to try and find any comments or articles to help me with the YouTube comments section, haha.)
> 
> Yep. I should definitely get back to my vestibular assessment homework (u w u;). I needed to finish that, like, yesterday.
> 
> This is unbeta’d and stuff so yeah, sorry for any errors… ^^;


End file.
